Loading-machine attachment



'1. w. uouemow AND T. w. HARVEY.

LOADING MACHINE ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I4. 192l- Patentd Oct. Z IIJIEIZZ.

Patented (kt. 24, 1922.

[ Zr a gfrfifi. stares JOHN w. HOUGHTON AND THOMAS w. HARVEY, orHUNTINGTON, wnsr VIRGINIA, AssIs-Nons T0 smnnr. rnonnc'rs 00., or.HUN'rINeroN, wnsr VIRGINIA, a core- H ronerIo or WEST VIRGINIA.

LOADING-MACHINE ATTACHMENT.

Application filed April 14,

T 0' aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that we, JoHN WV. HoUoH- ToNand THOMAS 1V. HARVEY, citizensof the United States, residing at Huntinton, in the, county of Cabell and State ofwest Virginia, have inventednew and useful Improvements in 'Loading-Machine Attachments, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for loading coal andother material, and consists essentially of improvements in the type ofmachine disclosed bythe patents of Francis K. Holmested, No. 1,290,200,oflanuary 7,1919, and.1,291,522, of January 14, 1919,and alsoillustrated and described l in the application of J ohn'lV. HoughtonandThurston 1V. Mitchell, Serial No. 428,077. The improvement consistsspecifically applying tothe feed shovel or nose at theforward= end ofthe inclined portion of a conveyer and cooperating with a reciprocatingfeed bar, forwardly projecting material-disloldging means, which in partis movable and effects a fall of the material relatively to the bulk ofmaterial operated upon and a drop thereof onto the feed shovel or nose.The primary object of the. invention is to provide means in connectionwith the feed shovel or nose at the forward extremity of a conveyerwhich will easily penetrate the material to be loaded and facilitateloading of the materialrelativelyto' the shovelend or nose when. thelatter is withdrawn from and reset in operative position or penetrationrelativelyto thematerial to be loaded.

. In the accompanying drawing Fig. '1 is a side elevation of the feedshovel I or nose at the lower end of a conveyer, show side of'the feedshovel or nose and one at tachment being illustrated in horizontalsection.

1F ig. 3"is a detail perspective view of the simplified form oftheattachment.

.Fig. 4 is .anvi'ew' similar to Fig 3, showing .a modification of theattachment. 7

As in the patented machines of Francis K. Holmested and the machinedisclosed by the pending application of Messrs. Houghton and-Mitchellhereinbefore referred to, a con- 1921. Serial No. 461,324.

veyer 5 is comprised in the cooperating compone-nts of the loadingmachine, said conveyer having opposite beams 6 which incline downwardlya suitable distance and connect with, or have applied thereto, a feedshovel or nose, generally indicated by the numeral 8. From the lowerfeeding shovel or nose 8 upwardly over the inclined portions of thebeams 6 and continuing over the horizontal portion of said beams is apan or trough 9, preferably formed of sheet metal of suitable thicknessand firmly attached to the beams at opposite side edges. means, such ascross bars or lags 10, have close movement upwardly over the pan ortrough 9 and are actuated by suitable mechanism forming no partof thepresent improvement. The feed shovel or nose 8 is of a practicallyunitary structure, or, is composed of a metal strip or sheet of suitabledimensions bent over at opposite sides to provide U-shaped' housings orangular guides 11 with their inner opposite sides fully open. Thisshovel end or nose extends downwardly from the forward terminals of thebeams 6 and for a greater portion of its length is straight and at thesame inclination as the beams. The front extremity of the feed shovel orshovel end .or nose is horizontally flat, as at12, and theterminating'end thereof is beveled off, as at 13, in a downward andforward direction. Between the horizontal straight extremity 12 of thefeed shovel or shovel end and the remaining straight inclined portion ofthe latter, a

' bend 1 1 is formed which is gradual and obviously necessary to disposethe said extremity 12 horizontally, and whereby the forward extremity ofthe shovel end or nose may be causedto practically penetrate the coal ormaterial to be loaded'or operated upon by the machine. The curved bendof the shovel end or nose is regularly carried out fully across the saidend or nose and inclnding' the housingsll, and reciprocatingly mountedon and closely engaging the upper surface 15 of the shovel end or noseis a feed bar 16. which is angular in cross section, the opposite endsof the said bar being freely movable in and covered by the housings orenclosing guides 11. The feed bar .16 has a forward reduced edge 17 anda rear vertically straight side 18 disposed towards the movable elementsof the conveyer.

The rear straight side of the bar 16 provides a. feedtions are givenuniform and re 'ular reto t) ciprocating strokes by actuating means,preferabh consisting of slide blocks 21 mounted in the outer portions ofthe lower inclined extremities of the beams 6, the said. slide blocks.having pitmen 2O pivotally attached thereto and operated by suitabledriving mechanism to uniformly and simultaneously reciprocate the blocks21 and actuatethe flexible connections 19 and regularly move thefeed bar16 over the shovel end or nose, the said feed bar 16 being movable overthe shovel end or nose such distance as to bring up the material. beingloaded into operative engagement with the conveying means.

The foregoing structure is particularly disclosed by the application ofMessrs. Thurston and hlitchell, hereinbefore noted, and the improvementconsists of a materialdisplaeing attachment, shown in detail by Figs..3and fl, and'comprising a shank 22 conforming in longitudinal contour tothe outer side of the shovel end or nose and hav ingextendingtherethrough a pluralityxof openings 28 to receive attaching bolts andnuts or analogous devices 2%, which project outwardly from the oppositesides of the out-er walls of the housings 11 forthe fleX- ibleconnections 19, as clearly shown by Fig. 2. The displacing attachmenthas its forward end beveled, as at 24, to facilitate penetration thereofinto the mass of material to be loaded, and in the simplified form ofthe improvement shown by Fig. 8, a single displacing means is shown andconsists of a drag arm 25 pivotally secured at its lower end 26 to theforward extremity of the at tachment, the arm being free to moveupwardly and downwardly at its rear extre1nity. The rear end 27 of thearm 25 is shaped to form an abutment to operate upon the materialadapted to be drawn towards the shovel end or nose 8 and the feed bar16. The arm 25 is prevented from falling below a certain predeterminedlevel by a stop pin 28 projecting outwardly from the shank 22, and atsuch elevation that a part of the free end 27 of the arm is always heldelevated above theupper edge of the said shank 22 of the attachment. Theforward pivoted extremity of the arm 25 is rounded and fits in acorrespondingly curved socket 29, and where this socket passes outthrough the up per edge of. the forward extremity of the at- T0 theopposite ends of tachment a transversely straight shoulder 30 mannersimilar to that shown by Fig. 3, and

the shank 22is made correspondingly longer, it being understood that anynumber of the arms 25 be employed as found necessary.

One ofthe attachments in either form is adjustably appliedto each outerside of the shovel end or nose 8 and projects beyond the front terminalof the latter, the single arm attachment shown by Fig. 3 being soapplied that its arm will stand in advance of the front terminal of theshovel end or nose, and the modified form of theattachment having aplurality of arms being also so applied that all of the armswill be inadvance of the front terminal .of the shovel end or nose.

\Vhen the shovel end or. nose is pushed for-.

wardly into the bulk of material to be loaded, the beveled front ends 24of the shanks become imbeddedin the material, and also-the arms 25, thelatter being depressed by engagement with the material to their lowestlevel and engage the stop means therefor, said stop means in themodified structure being part of the shank, as at 31, the shank beingconstructed of such width in'the modified structure as to accommodatethe application of aplurality of the arms 25 thereto. After the shovelend or nose 28 and the attachments have been set or applied to thematerial to be loaded, as just explained, the feed bar 16 is causedtooperate and draw the material upwardly towards and into engagement withthe conveyor elements. When the shovel end. or nose is withdrawn ormoved rearwardly for the purpose of resetting or repenetrating the samerelatively to the materialto be loaded, the one or more arms 25 of theattachments are immediately drawn upwardly by the engagement of thematerial with the rear abutment ends27 of the arms, and by this meansthe materialis drawn rearwardly towards the. shovel end orlnose and feedbar-16 and over onto the latter, and the bulk ofmaterial that may bestanding above the arm or arms 25 is caused to fall and also drop overonto the forward extremity of the shovel end or nose for engagement withthe saidfeed bar, with material advantages in facilitating the loadingoperation.

The improved attachment may be applied. to any machine now in use havingcooperating devices such as the reciprocating feed bar 16 or any otheranalogous feed the attachments having movable arms on the means and willbe found exceptionally advantageous in disposing the material to beloaded for engagement by the feed means for a convever.

lVhat is claimed, as new is:

1. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer of a loadingmachine having means for moving material to the conveyer, of rigidmaterial-displacing attachments applied to opposite sides and in partprojecting in advance of the terminal of the shovel end,

outer sides wholly above the lower edges of said arms and adapted topenetrate the material and displace the latter when the shovel end iswithdrawn from the material.-

2. The combination withthe shovel end of a conveyer having means formoving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of rigid materialdisplacing means having a fixed association with relation to oppositesides of and in part in advance of the front extremity of said shovelend, the said material-displacing means being provided with arms pivotedat their forward lower ends above the lower edges of the arms and havinga free gravitating movement at their rear ends, the said arms beinglocated above and any portions thereof prevented from moving below thelower edges of said means.

3. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer having means formoving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of rigidmaterial-displacing means applied to opposite sides and in part inadvance of the front extremity of the shovel end and provided withgravitating arms having their rear ends free to move upwardly anddownwardly and controlled as to their downward movement by stop means,the said arms during their operations being wholly held at all timesabove the lower edges of the displacing means.

4. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer having means formoving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of rigidmaterial-displacing means applied to opposite sides and in part inadvance of the front extremity of the shovel end and. provided withgravitating arms having their rear ends free to move upwardly anddownwardly and controlled as to their downward movement by stop means,but at all times wholly held above the lower edges of the displacingmeans, each attachment being longitudinally adjustable with relation tothe shovel end. I

5. The combination with a shovel end at the front extremity of aconveyer having means for moving material thereover intoengagingposition by the conveyer, of a rigid displacing attachmentsecured to each side and projecting in advance of the front extremity ofthe shovel end, the attachments having fixed penetrating forward endsand arms pivoted at their front lower extremities and free to moveupwardly and downwardly at their rear ends the arms being at all timesheld above the lower edges of the displacing attachments, means beingprovided to limit the upward and downward movements of the arms. i

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

JOHN W. HOUGHTON. THOMAS l/V. HARVEY. Witnesses:

STARR. SADLER, BLANCHIE BROMLEY.

